BACOLOD City – Some 556 locally stranded individuals (LSIs) returned to this province from Cebu.
The Negrenses arrived at the Danao Port in Escalante City from the port of Tabuelan town on Aug. 24 aboard four roll-on, roll-off vessels, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) reports showed.
Lieutenant Commander Jansen Benjamin, chief of PCG-Negros Occidental, said on Aug. 25 the Coast Guard bus and 42 service vehicles of various local government units were dispatched to Tabuelan to fetch the stranded Negrenses.
A total of 148 passengers traveled aboard LCT Trinity; 68 on LCT Tabuelan; 247 on LCT St. Isidore; and 93 on LCT Sacred Heart.
The Monday night arrivals from Cebu were the first since Aug. 9 when a group of 91 Negrenses was able to travel just as the moratorium took effect.
The travel of stranded Negrenses from Cebu was suspended during the two-week moratorium on the return of LSIs and returning overseas Filipinos to this city and Negros Occidental, which ended on August 21.
On Aug. 19, the provincial government sent food supplies to Negrenses waiting for passage home in Tabuelan after advising them to stay put in the places where they were staying if they have not yet received a travel schedule.
In Executive Order 20-26, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson said Negrenses coming from Cebu could enter this province through the Danao Port only while the admission of LSIs during the allowed period of travel would still depend on the capacity of the isolation facility in Cadiz City.
The Coast Guard also monitors the coastal areas of San Carlos City to prevent the illegal entry of LSIs in the northern city, which is another gateway to this province from Cebu. (With a report from PNA/PN)
